Gauge for indicating the efficiency of steam condensers



wttii irii 13 L A. E. L. SCANES GAUGE FOR INDICATING THE EFFICIENCY OF STEAM CONDENSERS Filed Sept. 27, 1924 Aug. 31 1926.

w 0 a w Patented Aug. 31, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT serie ARTHUR EDWIN LEIGH SGANES, OF ASHTON-ON-MERSEY, ENGLAND.

GAUGE FOR INDICATING THE EFFICIENCY OF STEAM CONDENSER/S.

Application filed September 27, 1924, Serial No. 740,342, and in England October 24, 1923.

This invention relates to gauges for indicating directly the vacuum efliciency or condenser efliciency of a steam condenser, such as are described in the United States Letters Patent No. 1,217,074.

With gauges constructed as described in the aforesaid patent it has been found that, after prolonged use, the glass of the container or jacket and of the gauge tube located therein becomes obscured by impurities deposited thereon by the water circulated through the former of these. parts and difliculty is experienced in reading the indications given by variations in the height of the liquid in the sealed tube.

The object of the present invention is to overcome this difficulty in a simple and inexpensive manner. To this end, in accordance with the invention, a water space is formed around a part only of the circumference of that portion of the gauge tube where variations in liquid level occur. This may conveniently be effected by enclosing the whole or a portion of the gauge tube in a jacket or container comprising two eccentrically disposed tubular members of suitable section having longitudinal slots therein and which are united at the edges of the slots. By this arrangement water is prevented from gaining access to the gauge tube during its passage through the jacket or container and variations in liquid level in the gauge tube can readily be observed through the aforesaid slots.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood and readily carried into practice reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings wherein a constructional form thereof is illustrated diagrammatically by way of example, Fig. 1 being a longitudinal section, Fig. 2 an elevation, Fig. 3 a plan, Fig. 4 a section on the line IVIV of Fig. 1, and Fig. 5 an inverted )lan.

1 In 'the form illustrated the gauge comprises a U-tube 1 having limbs of unequal length the longer of which is sealed and surrounded by a jacket 2 comprising eccentrically disposed metallic tubes 3 and 1 united at'the edges of a common slot 5 and provided with water inlet and outlet branch es 6 and 7 and top and bottom covers 8 and 9, respectively. The top cover 8 is of disc formation and closes both inner and outer tubes whereas the bottom cover 9 is of crescent formation and closes the space between the inner and outer tubes only, leaving the end of the inner tube open for the insertion of the tube 1.

In operation, the U-tube 1 is sealed with mercury and a body of water is placed in the longer limb. The open end of the tube 1 is then connected with the vacuum space of the condenser and the branches 6 and 7 with the hot well or the circulating water inlet and outlet. The water level in the longer limb of the tube 1 can be observed through the slot 5 and the vacuum or condenser efficiency read directly from a suitably arranged scale, all substantially as described in the above mentioned patent.

It will be understood that the arrangement of eccentric tubes may constitute the whole of the water jacket or container provided in conjunction with the gauge tube or may only be provided around the portion of th latter where variations in liquid level occur, other parts of the tube being completely surrounded by the water jacket in the usual manner.

I claim as my invention 1. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a tube having a longitudinal slot, a second tube of lesser diameter located within said first-named tube and having a longitudinal slot in alignment with the slot of said first-named tube, said tubes being joined together along the corresponding edges of said aligning slots to form a space between said tubes, the upper ends of said tubes being closed and the lower end of said second-named tube being open, and a closure for said first-named tube surrounding said second-named tube.

2. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a tube having a longitudinal slot, a second longitudinally slotted tube within said first-named tube eccentri cally of the latter and having the edges of its slot joined to the corresponding edges of said first-named tube, the upper ends of said tubes being closed and the lower end of said second-named tube being open, and means closing the lower end of said firstnamed tube and surrounding the lower open end of saidsecond-named tube.

3. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a tube having its lower end open to receive a gauge tube and having a longitudinal slot through which the height of fluid in said gauge tube may be observed, a second longitudinally-slotted tube of lower end of said second-named tube and surrounding the lower end of the first-named 10 tube.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name this 12th day of September, 1924.

ARTHUR EDl VIN LEIGH SCANES. 

